Moon
by Cordria
Summary: Can the crew figure out what's wrong with Danny before the new moon rises? Part 4 of the Illuminations Saga.
1. Confusions

**Welcome to the fourth installment in the saga 'Illuminations'. If you haven't read the first three (Darkness, Shadows, and Light), you should go read them first. They're not incredibly long.**

**A quick note that I wrote the first three parts of this _seven years ago_. I am going to try to keep the style of writing the same throughout the saga, but I've grown a lot over the past seven years and some things are going to be slightly different. I refuse to continue some of the basic mistakes I was making in the first three stories. Hopefully I can keep the story feeling like one cohesive unit while upgrading the quality of the writing.**

**Also, please note that since the basis of this story is so old, the plot is first-season(ish) compliant only. No Mayor Vlad. No Red Huntress. No ice powers.**

**The story should be updated once a week, if not more often. There are about ten chapters to this story, approximately 20,000 words in total. Reviews are pleasant things that inspire me to write faster, should you be interested in leaving some feedback.**

**Appreciate you reading!**

**-Cori**

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_The moon pulls strong on the tides._

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**Moon  
**A Danny Phantom Fanfiction by Cordria

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Chapter 1: Confusions

_Danny and Maddie_

* * *

Danny's eyes fluttered open to the sound of quiet voices. Laughter, back and forth chatter, and then someone started to talk about the weather. Slowly the ceiling came into view, and Danny reached up a hand to rub at his eyes. His mouth felt dry and sticky.

"Good morning," a voice said nearby, and he felt someone settle down next to him. "How're you feeling?"

Not answering, Danny pushing himself up into a sitting position, finally realizing he'd fallen asleep on the couch. Or - as his forehead wrinkled in thought - he'd fallen asleep on the floor. The TV flickered and caught his attention. He watched the weather radar for a long moment, lost in thought.

"Danny?"

"Yeah?" He turned his attention to his sister, who was perched on the armrest of the couch. Only then did her previous question register in his mind. "I'm fine, Jazz."

She arched an eyebrow, but vacated the armrest is favor of the recliner. A half-eaten bowl of cereal was waiting for her. She picked it up and resumed eating her breakfast, turning her gaze back to the morning news. "You know," she said after a moment, "Mom and Dad stayed up almost all night watching you sleep."

Danny let his eyes flicker towards the stairs - towards their parents' bedroom. "Oh."

"What happened?"

Rubbing a hand over his head and through his hair, Danny tried to remember exactly what had happened the previous night. He'd been talking to his parents, trying to explain everything. Then…

Then…

"I don't remember," Danny muttered after a moment, his head starting to ache. Pressing a hand against his head, he closed his eyes and leaned back against the pillows. Little flashes of memory curled through Danny's mind. A black pendant. Red eyes. Fire. He shuddered and dropped his hand, a strange feeling of loss stabbing through his heart.

"Head hurt?"

Danny shrugged and let his eyes drift open, gazing blankly at the TV - which had just flipped over to a commercial break. He didn't process what he was seeing. Instead, he was focused on the sensation that something was missing. Broken.

Stolen?

Grasping at the thought, Danny started to pull other stray bits of memory together. Men in white. A jail cell?

"Want me to get you some Advil?"

Thoughts thoroughly scattered by his sister's voice, Danny sighed and let his head fall backwards. A few sarcastic comments popped into his mind, but all that came out was a soft, "Sure."

There was the clink of a bowl being set down. The chair squeaked. Footsteps as his sister left the room.

Danny sat in the silence, alone for the first time since he'd woken up in the hospital, and stared at the ceiling. Darkness. Too many shadows. Lost in the light. Almost sacrificed under the moon…

"Here."

Danny flinched, his eyes jumping to focus on his sister. She seemed to have magically appeared by his side - no where near the amount of time needed to get both the Advil and the glass of water she was carrying. Her eyes softened and she waited, holding out the glass for him to take. "Thanks," he said, taking it and the two pills.

"You sure you're 'fine'?" Jazz stared straight at him, as if she were looking for something in his eyes.

"Yeah," Danny said, pushing a grin onto his face. "Why wouldn't I be?"

Jazz actually snorted. Shaking her head, the small smile faded. "But you don't remember…"

Swallowing the pills and a few huge mouthfuls of water, Danny forced a laugh out of his chest. It sounded a lot more realistic than Danny had expected. "I fainted, or something. What's there to remember?"

Jazz worried her lip for a moment, then the faint smile returned. "I suppose."

"You're just a worrier." Danny drained the rest of the glass and set it on the coffee table, nonchalantly putting his arms behind his head and his feet up on the armrest. "I spent a week in the hospital, pushed myself too far, and fainted. And now I have a headache. It's not a big deal."

The little wrinkles around her eyes vanished as she relaxed into a real smile. "I'm really glad you're okay, Danny."

Shooting her a grin, Danny let his eyes close, half-listening to the news and waiting for the Advil to kick in. He could hear Jazz crunch through what was left of her cereal, occasionally muttering to herself about the news stories. But his smile vanished as the dream-like memory of the black pendant flickered in front of his eyes. This time it was glowing an icy blue. It made every hair on his body stand on end.

* * *

The TV was playing softly in the next room, Jazz's careful tones ceasing as the short conversation with her brother came to an end. Maddie listened a few moments, relieved that Danny seemed to have woken up with nothing but a mild headache, before turning her attention dazedly back to her coffee. She wasn't a coffee drinker, but after yet another sleepless night she needed something to keep her brain functioning. A heavy dose of Jack's 'Fenton Blend' coffee would have to do the trick.

In the ripples and swirls of the dark coffee, Maddie imagined she could see glowing green eyes. Two eyes, the sharp gaze of a ghost, piercing through the darkness. The rest of its body lost in the shadows. Very slowly, she set the cup down on the table without taking a sip. The cup clinked.

The past month was little but a blur in her mind. Danny's kidnapping, followed by her own. Days trapped in the darkness with a mysterious ghost. Finding an escape, only to almost lose the spirit she'd come to actually like being around. Learning the ghost was her son just in time to lose him to a death-like coma in the hospital.

It had happened so fast.

It had changed her entire world.

Maddie pushed the cup away from her and set her head down on her arms, letting her eyes fall closed. If she didn't stop to think about it, everything was okay. The world was still spinning. Her family was reunited and happy. Everything could just continue the way it was.

But then she would think and the world would feel like it was being ripped out from underneath her.

Her eyes started to burn and Maddie took a deep breath, holding it, refusing to give in to the emotions that were playing out inside her heart. The faint trembling in her chest subsided. The ache in her eyes faded. When she sat up, her cheeks were dry. She reached for the coffee cup but hesitated, choosing instead to stand up and walk quietly over to the door. She leaned against the door jam, gazing at her children.

Jazz was engrossed in the morning news, a little dribble of milk from her cereal forgotten on her chin. Danny was laying on the couch, feet on the coffee table, seemingly asleep again. It all looked perfectly normal.

Maddie's arms slowly crept up to wrap around herself, pulling tightly. Her fingers burrowed into the flesh of her arms. Her lips were tight on her face, warped into a strange expression, as she studied her young son. The blankness on his face as he slept, the way his hair tickled his eyes, the relaxed way his body slouched on the couch.

His eyes twitched and Maddie quickly rearranged her face into a smile. His eyes flickered open and gazed in her direction, still half asleep, and fought back a yawn. Struggling to sit up, Danny shot her a grin.

The sight of her son's face caused a warmth in her heart that curled through her chest. She felt it when the warmth hit her eyes, turning her forced smile into something real. Pushing away from the door, Maddie walked back into the kitchen and settled back down at the table, momentarily content with the knowledge that she loved her son.

But she stared at the coffee, smile fading, unable to keep the prickling thought away: just who _was_ her son?

* * *

Jessica Oscura played with the little pendant hanging around her neck as the train chugged down the tracks. Her useless lump of a brother was snoring the seat next to her and she cast him a scornful glare before turning her gaze back through the window. Endless expanses of farmland were passing by. Corn, perhaps.

For the tenth time since she got on the train, she picked up a calendar and stared down at the date, tracing a delicate finger from the current date to the new moon, only a week away. "Can this train not move any faster?" she demanded quietly, flicking the calendar closed and putting it back onto her lap.

Her brother twitched in his sleep. "Ghosts…" he muttered.

"Would you like something to drink?"

She looked up into the eyes of a young woman with a small cart filled with bottles of water and cans of soda. "A water, please," she replied after a moment.

"And where are you two headed?" The young woman handed over the bottle, accepting the dollar in exchange.

Jessica smiled. "Wisconsin."

**To be continued.**


	2. Hiding Truths

**Thank you Amywxue, Jae B, MsFrizzle, SmartMcSmartle, and DarkShadowKun for the reviews!**

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_Beware the dark side of the Moon._

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**Moon**  
A Danny Phantom Fanfiction by Cordria

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Chapter 2: Hiding Truths

_Tucker, Jazz, and Sam_

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Tucker scowled and dropped his head onto his arms, ignoring his biology teacher in favor of gazing at the empty desk next to him. Danny had finally come out of his coma, finally was back home again… and where was his best friend, confidant, and wing man in all video games? By his side?

No he wasn't. He was at school. Trapped in a desk. Listening to something about - Tucker took a moment to focus on the board - the differences between cellular mitotic divisions and cellular meiotic divisions.

That didn't bother to mention how incredibly warm it was in school that day. Tucker's shirt was starting to itch around the collar. He reached up to absent scratch, returning his gaze to the empty chair. He wanted to be at the Fenton's house. The trio of friends had talked over how Danny would break the news to his parents a number of times. Every one of the plans had involved the _three_ of them talking to the adults. Not a single plan had ever mentioned leaving Danny alone to face his parents. Especially after what happened last night.

Tucker frowned and started to pick at the peeling edge of his desk. The way Danny had collapsed had been odd. Mr. and Mrs. Fenton had kept repeating that it was because he had been so sick, that the doctors had said not to push him too far, that Danny just needed more rest.

But there was no denying that Danny had been _glowing_ for a few seconds. Twitching. Screaming. There was no way he'd simply collapsed from exhaustion.

There was a ghost involved. Tucker was willing to bet every one of his computers on the fact. Even the new one with the eight-core processor and liquid cooling system. There was simply the question of which ghost had done it. Or which ghost-obsessed human.

Eyes narrowing - with a quick glance up at the teacher, finding her still completely involved in her own lecture - Tucker snuck his hand into his pocket and pulled out his PDA. Not bothering to keep it below the level of his desk, Tucker switched on the wi-fi and pulled up a news article he'd seen earlier: Kidnapper Jessica Oscura Escapes in Massive Explosion.

His eyes scanned over the lengthy text, trying to filter out all the media hype and guestimation to find the actual facts. The woman had apparently blown up a section of a prison in North Carolina, miraculously managing to not kill anyone. Several of the guards reported that she'd been accompanied by an angel as she had made her escape with her brother, Freakshow. Then she'd vanished. Eighteen hours of extensive searching of the area had, so far, brought no new leads as to where she might have gone.

Tucker tapped his fingers lightly against the top of his desk as he thought about that, absently turning his gaze towards the board. The teacher was moving strangely colored X's around inside circles. Then he looked down again.

Head tipping to the side, Tucker swiped his fingers on the screen. The article returned to the top and the zoomed in on the byline. Author. Date. Time.

"Oh my God," Tucker whispered. "That's the same time Danny collapsed." Brain starting to make connections, Tucker scrolled down the screen to stare at the quotes by the prison guards. A green angel. Glowing. Floating. Danny?

"But…" He clicked the button to turn the screen off, turning the PDA upside down, confused. "But Danny was in Amity Park. That's almost a thousand miles away." In front of the class, the teacher gestured towards something that looked like a snowman. "How could he have been there?"

He turned to look at the empty desk Danny should have been sitting in. "What's going on?"

* * *

Jazz was skipping school. Not technically, she supposed - her mother had called her in and the school had been so nice about letting her have a few days off to help her brother - but in her mind, Jazz knew she was skipping school. It simultaneously made her gut knot in worry over breaking the rules and caused a slightly heady 'I'm breaking the rules' sensation that brought unconscious smiles to her face.

Still in her pajamas, flipping idly through daytime TV, Jazz glanced over at her brother. He was pretending to be asleep again. "I know you're awake," she said.

"No I'm not," he murmured after a moment. "Leave me alone."

"You twitch in your sleep," Jazz informed him with a grin. "When you're faking it, you hold too still."

A blue eye opened to gaze at her. "I don't twitch," he informed her furiously.

"Sure you do." She turned her attention back to the TV. "Oh, Judge Judy."

"You can't tell me you actually like Judge Judy," Danny complained after a few more minutes of pretend sleep. "Change the channel, I beg you."

Jazz arched an eyebrow, not bothering to send Danny the look that comment deserved. "What do you care, you're _asleep_, remember?"

She watched Danny shift and push himself back into a sitting position. "Fine. So I'm not asleep. Now can you please-"

"Mom! Danny's awake!" Jazz yelled, finally acquiescing to the demand and flipping over to Lifetime with a sadistic grin. She could hear footsteps on the basement stairs. Both of their parents had been downstairs in the lab, working on some new invention. "Say Yes to the Dress marathon. Awesome."

Paling slightly, Danny shot her a dark look. "You evil little… I don't know what's worse," he muttered, "the TV show or Mom."

Jazz set down the remote and leaned back in her chair. "They just want to talk, Danny. You didn't really get a chance to finish explaining things to them last night before you…" she trailed off, an uneasy feeling settling in her stomach. "…Fainted."

Danny's lips were pressed tightly together, his eyes wide and anxious. "I don't want to talk," he said softly. "I just…" He shrugged halfheartedly, then flinched when the sound of the basement door opening and closing filtered into the living room.

He was shaking so badly Jazz could see it from her spot on the recliner. "It's going to be okay, Danny. Relax."

Then he was gone. No wisps of haze, no soft blurring. He was simply gone. The blanket that had been tangled around his legs collapsed empty to the couch.

Jazz stared at the spot where her brother had been, startled, her mouth undoubtedly hanging open. "Danny?" Her eyes trailed up to meet the blank gaze of her mother.

"Where's your brother? He's supposed to be resting," Maddie said, one hand on her hip.

Jazz's mouth moved a few times, searching for something to say. "Bathroom?" she finally came up with, wincing at the uncertain note in her voice.

Lips thinning, her mother closed her eyes and shook her head. "Alright." The word was soft and empty.

Jazz watched as Maddie turned around and walked back out of view. There was the sound of a chair scraping in the kitchen, then silence. Guilt surged in Jazz's chest. Chewing on her lip, Jazz sat there a moment, debating what to say, before getting up and slipping into the kitchen herself. She settled down in one of the other chairs, intending to explain to her mother a few things about Danny. Like how he disappeared like this all the time.

But her mother was crying.

There was a strange feeling in Jazz's heart at the sight. A breaking sensation that drove spikes of terror and helplessness into her mind. She sat there, not knowing what to do or what to say. Jazz Fenton, psychotherapist-in-training, she-who-always-knew-what-to-say, found herself simply threading her fingers together in her lap and staring at the scratches in the kitchen table, the conversation she'd intended to have gone from her mind like it had never existed.

Her mother was one of the strongest people in the world. Nothing had ever broken her - not the deaths of her parents, not the physical and emotional attacks from the world at large at her choice of lifestyle, not when she'd thought Danny was dead… not even the ghosts. She'd cried before, sure, but it hadn't ever been this broken, empty sound. Jazz felt herself starting to worry that the family she'd always depended on - her strong, quirky, completely abnormal family - might be starting to fall apart at the seams.

The sounds her mother was making pulled straight at Jazz's soul. She couldn't help it. Soon she was swiping at tears on her own cheeks.

That's when a warm hand curled around her fingers. Jazz looked up into her mother's reddened eyes. Gazed into the tiny smile that formed on her mother's face. "It'll be okay, Sweetheart," Maddie whispered. "Trust me."

* * *

"You are supposed to be resting." Sam looked up from her milkshake at the Nasty Burger just long enough to fix her best friend with a glare. He looked horrible - white and pasty with a strange sheen to his skin that was normally associated with a very high fever. Sam's glare instantly faded away to a look of concern. "You okay?"

Danny shifted his weight from foot to foot, then basically collapsed into a chair opposite her. "I just… Mom wanted to talk… and I…" He trailed off. "Yeah."

"Articulate," Sam complimented sarcastically, licking a lost bit of vanilla milkshake off her lip as she continued to study her friend. "I almost know what you're talking about."

"Danny," Tucker said in surprise, dropping into an empty seat with a large triple bacon burger. He instantly surrendered his fries, but Danny didn't reach over to grab one. "What are you doing here? And, don't take this the wrong way," Tucker stopped to take a bite, talking around the mouthful, "but you look horrible." Sam shot him a disgusted look, but held back on the comment.

Danny scowled at Tucker. "I just couldn't be home anymore. I don't want to talk about… it."

"You're going to have to eventually. You can't hide at the Nasty Burger forever." Tucker finally swallowed his bite.

"Yeah, and you really should be home." Sam stared at her friend, watching him slump in his seat, his eyes nearly closed with exhaustion, then shook her head and reached for her backpack. "You look really sick. I'm gonna call your parents."

"No!" Danny shot up, eyes wide. "I don't… I _can't_… Sam please. Just wait a few minutes." His voice had a desperate pitch to it that slowed Sam's hand. "_Please_."

Sam glanced from her hand to Danny and back, then sighed and retreated from her backpack. "Fine. A few minutes."

Danny's eyes closed and he collapsed back against the chair. "Thanks."

"What are you so afraid of, anyways?" Tucker asked. "You were all for talking to them last night."

"Yeah, with you two there," he replied sullenly. "And you didn't see the look on my mom's face this morning."

"We'll come with you," Sam offered with a smile, worriedly watching the way Danny was draped bonelessly over the chair. "We always told you we'd be there when you talked to them."

Danny's return smile was small. "Thanks."

Silence fell as Tucker chewed through his burger. Tucker swallowed noisily and asked the question Sam couldn't bring herself to ask. "So what happened last night?"

As Sam had predicted, Danny's smile vanished. "I fainted," he said blandly, looking away.

"Yeah… no," Tucker shot back. "Try again."

Danny scowled and rubbed his hand on his temples. "I don't… remember." The last word came out as almost a sigh.

"That doesn't sound like a good thing," Sam said, pushing away the nearly-forgotten milkshake in favor of resting her arms on the table.

"No, it-" Danny froze, mid head-shake, as his body shuddered violently and mist escaped from his mouth. The entire table went still for a heartbeat. "No…" Danny's eyes were wide as he stared over his shoulder.

"Danny, no." Sam reached forwards and grabbed his hand tightly in his. "You can't. You-"

"Someone'll get hurt," Danny whispered, but he hadn't moved, still gazing over his shoulder.

"Your parents can take care of it." Tucker joined in the argument, setting down the remains of his triple bacon burger. "The three of us can hide out at my house."

Sam nodded in agreement, knowing that Tucker's house was the closest of the three. "Come on," she cajoled. "I'll order pizza." Danny's head turned around to gaze into her eyes and Sam had less than a moment to realize what was going to happen. "Danny, NO!"

But he was already gone.

**To be continued.**


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